128 MUSSOLINI'S ROMAN EMPIRE

dissatisfied with their semi-feudal semi-theocratic form
of government, while the old 'traditional obstacles* had
no need to reform themselves, but merely fastened them-
selves more firmly on the backs of the people.

Just as Italian fascism was partly the outcome of a
feeling of inferiority after the Great War, so the swing
to the left in Spanish politics has been accentuated by
a desire to get rid of the * Black Legend* of Spain
abroad. This depicts the country as ignorant, priest-
ridden, obscurantist, and fanatical, with a weakness for
brigandage and bull-fighting. The Monarchy, with its
mediaeval trappings, was the first to disappear, but the
outward and visible signs of the Black Legend survived
in those buildings which symbolized the obstacles to
reform—the convents, churches, and barracks. When-
ever the Army and the Church have weakened their
control, we find the recurring tendency to attack the
buildings themselves, a symptom which is often mis-
represented abroad by people who do not know the
Spanish country-side and the huge and gloomy edifices
which dominate so many poor and tumble-down villages.

The rising of July, 1936, was partly an armed revolt
of the officer caste. It is therefore important to appreciate
the strength of this unofficial trade union.

Senor Azana has left a remarkable description of the
state of the army, when he took over the Ministry of
War in Zamora's government—the corruption and
jobbery, the absurdly high proportion of officers,
especially in the artillery, and the innumerable sinecures.
At the fall of the Monarchy the regular army numbered
just over 100,000 men. It had not proved itself yery
efficient in Morocco, but it had 195 generals on the
active list, and 437 on the Reserve. There were 5,938
Colonels and Majors on the active list and 407 on the